Christ from El Cubilete

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Christ statue on the Cerro del Cubilete

The Christ of El Cubilete (also: Cristo de la Montaña ) is a 20 meter high Christ monument on the Cerro del Cubilete (2579 m) in the municipality of Silao in the state of Guanajuato , Mexico . It was built in the 1940s in place of the earlier monument from the early 1920s. The previous statue was bombed and blown up during the civil war in 1928 on the orders of Plutarco Elías Calles . From the entrance square you have a wide view over the lowlands of Guanajuato.

Geographical location

The hill or mountain ("cerro") is 42 kilometers from the city of Guanajuato and about 20 kilometers from Silao. Its summit is 2579 meters above sea level.

history

The Cerro del Cubilete was part of the Chichimequillas estate. It was the property of the lawyer and parliamentarian José Natividad Macías Castorena, who donated the land on which the monument now stands to the church. Natividad Macias, who held various positions in the cabinet of Venustiano Carranza , was persecuted during the revolution by the Obregonist faction (cf. General Álvaro Obregón ) and forced into exile. In Silao his relationship with the bishop and with Valverde Tellez, the head of the construction of the monument, and certainly the donation, became known. Despite the state anti-religious radicalism prevailing at the time, the idea of ​​building such a Christian monument was pursued further.

Shortly afterwards, the bishop and Valverde Tellez celebrated mass on the hill and the priest, sponsored by Maria Eleuterio Ferrer, placed a plaque. It was then that the idea of adding an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the site became concrete . The project was approved by the bishop who visited the site on March 12, 1920 to lay the foundation stone. In October, during the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Coronation of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the diocese decided to start an even bigger monumental work. On February 11, 1923, the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Ernesto E. Filippi, placed the foundation stone, which led to his expulsion from the country. Work on the statue was banned by the government of Plutarco Elias Calles, who saw his authority in question. On January 30, 1928, the site was blown up.

Today's monument

After the end of the Cristero War, José Garibi y Rivera , Archbishop of Guadalajara , negotiated the reconstruction of the monument with the government of Manuel Ávila Camacho . The negotiations led to the result that Bishop Valverde y Téllez was able to lay the foundation stone on December 11, 1944. In 1948, when construction was in full swing, Bishop Valverde died. The building was inaugurated on December 11, 1950 and blessed by his successor in office.

The current building is the basis for the huge statue, which is 20 meters high and weighs 80 tons. This makes it the world's largest bronze statue of Christ. The Mexican sculptor Fidias Elizondo did not use concrete or marble, as is the case with the many other statues. The current Christ the King Monument was designed by two Mexican architects, Nicolás Mariscal y Piña (architect) and José Carlos Ituarte González. They started work in 1944. Mariscal had previously built a side chapel of the Cathedral of Leon (Guanajuato) in Leon , González also built the sacrificial temple of the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" (Sagrado Corazón de Jesús) in Leon. The engineer Carlos Perez Olvera was the construction manager and operations manager. The entire building as well as the image of Christ followed the Art Deco trend of the time . This style can be seen on the floor, the overall structure and all the materials used. Inside, on a circular platform raised by three steps, is the altar; A large metal ring hovers above it as a sign of royal rule, emphasizing the circular domed structure made of rings and ribs. In the spaces in between, marble slabs from Cali allow the filtered daylight to penetrate into the interior.

At the foot of the statue of Christ the King is the modern spherical basilica. The sanctuary can accommodate a large number of pilgrims all year round, but especially on November 21st, the feast of Cristo Rey. The statue and the two angels on the concrete hemisphere symbolize the universal rule of Christ. The hemisphere rests on eight concrete pillars that represent the eight ecclesiastical provinces of Mexico. The angels kneeling at Christ's feet offer him two crowns: the crown of thorns of martyrdom and the crown of royal glory.

In March 2012, Pope Benedict XVI remembered . of the anti-Christian persecution in Mexico and the armed resistance of the Cristeros, who fought for freedom of the church and religion from 1926 to 1929.

The Christ in popular culture

The pilgrimage church is one of the most visited churches in Mexico; only the Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe near Mexico City and the Basílica de Nuestra Señora in San Juan de los Lagos in the state of Jalisco are more popular .
José Alfredo Jiménez mentions Christ and the mountain in his song "Caminos de Guanajuato" (The streets of Guanajuato).

Every January 5th a mass is celebrated in the courtyard of the church, where a thousand riders line up with their standards to represent their villages, complemented by a representation of the three wise men and the baby Jesus. In addition, every first Sunday in October, the site is visited by thousands of people, mostly from the cities of León and San Luis Potosí .

To reach the impressive place, you take the paved road that goes around the hill until you come to a large circle that doubles as a viewing platform and park.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cristo Rey del Cubilete en Silao, Guanajuato. México Desconocido.
  2. ↑ Luis Aboites, Engracia Loyo: La construcción del nuevo Estado, 1920–1945. In: Nueva historia general de México. México 2010, p. 607.
  3. ^ Paloma Rives: Breve historia del monumento a Cristo Rey en el cerro del Cubilete. Tradición Católica, March 28, 2012.
  4. ^ Paloma Rives: Breve historia del monumento a Cristo Rey en el cerro del Cubilete. Tradición Católica. March 28, 2012. Accessed October 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ Giuseppe Nardi: Taboo breach “Viva Cristo Rey” - Pope revives forbidden battle cry and reminds of Christ the King. In: Magazine for Church and Culture, March 26, 2012. Accessed October 9, 2014.
  6. ↑ Cristo Rey del Cubilete en Silao, Guanajuato. At: México Desconocido Online.

Coordinates: 21 ° 0 '42 "  N , 101 ° 22' 8.9"  W.